Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 405 The Chief Chosen One!
Under the cover of night, undercurrents surged.

The Church of Wealth's intelligence network, combined with Duncan's God's-eye view, virtually locked down all of Sergant's hostile forces.

Basically, as long as Sara Tybrantan sends people to find out the general information about the enemy and their surrounding area of ​​activity, and Duncan goes to check it out himself, he can identify most of the enemy units.

There are many reddish enemy units throughout Selgant, but those that are glowing red with blood-red light are definitely members of the Church of Pain.

Dimensional space.

From God's perspective.

Duncan's projection screen showed a large number of green-marked units, all of whom were members of the Church of Wealth and the Cult of Pleasure. Not far away were light green friendly units, the helpers summoned by Lady Cesta-White, the Purple Dragon Knights of the Kingdom of Cormier.

"Prepare for action."

Duncan put on his Insight Helmet, which granted him constant dark vision. A quick look at the wealth of the Church of Wealth would be enough to arm him to the teeth.

"Replace job level".

Duncan raised his hand and opened the human form's class panel, replacing the Golden Guardian with a Paladin, a reward he obtained from killing the Bloodstain Priestess - Veraris.

The enemy's identity is very complicated.

He was first a paladin of Tyr, then fell into darkness and became a guardian of darkness. He then sided with the goddess of torment, Lauvita, and gained divine favor from the evil god through his merits.

So after Duncan killed him, he lost two completely different abilities.

— "Demon Slash (requires Paladin or Holy Knight class rank replacement): On your next attack, add your Charisma to your attack hit chance and your class rank to your bonus damage. Only applies to enemies of the evil alignment."

—"Breakthrough Slash (requires replacing Dark Guardian class level): as above."

The priest's three slashing abilities.

One is the Demon-Slaying Slash, one is the Good-Slaying Slash, and the last one is the Heretical Slash (to strike against heretics). The last one is a very rare ability and is not within the scope of what ordinary professionals can master.

—"Human form: Duncan-Starfall (Lawful Neutral) [Alignment can be switched]!"

The paladins who were once lawful good are now changing with the times. Some are trying to replace the lawful good alignment with the power of the oath, and replace the supreme light with the power of the gods. If this trend continues, the paladins who were once the embodiment of good will become the true henchmen of the gods.

— "Heavy Slash LV1 (Supreme Slash) (Legendary Feats): When you use Slash of the Wicked, Slash of the Good, or Slash of the Heretics (Slash of the Heretics), it adds an extra damage equal to your class level, up to ten times (eleven times)."

Thanks to the party master Korver.

He blocked a devastating attack for Duncan; otherwise, Duncan wouldn't have been able to kill his opponent so easily.

As the projected page changes, the human host's job level is gradually replaced, with little change in ability, since the Golden Guardians are essentially part of the Temple Warrior system, except for the addition of 'Holy Healing' and 'Exorcising Slash'.

"The improvement in combat effectiveness is quite obvious."

"When dealing with evil targets, switch to Paladin level; when dealing with good targets, switch to Dark Guardian level."

"wrong."

"Later on, I can learn the weapon master's battle aura strike, and even think about the aura-raising slash."

For now, we're not considering magical abilities for this human host.

It's not that I look down on mages, it's just that the goddess of magic has just passed away, and we're still in the midst of the turbulent Arcane Chaos.

(Note 1: It was not until the new goddess of magic fully took over the divine duties that things gradually recovered.)
(Note 2: It took about 6 to 8 years for Kramwall to become the new Grim Reaper.)
"The Evil-Slaying Slash is even better."

"After all, I'm going to venture into the Abyss and the Hell of Bathor in the future."

After replacing his human host's class level, Duncan re-entered battle stance. A new 'Oath' mark appeared on the Paladin's panel, but he had no intention of making any oaths at the moment, as the constraints would be greater if he did.

As soon as the order to take action was given, the entire area of ​​Sergant was instantly startled by a violent explosion!
boom.

On the high ground near the southwest of the port area, the gate of Fitch-Silverton's sprawling mansion was instantly blown open. This guy really liked using magic locks, and by the time the wanderer finished picking the lock, the enemy would have already been alerted.

What to do if you can't pick the lock?
They blew up the door.

As a squad of shield-wielding golden guards stormed in, chaos erupted in the mansion's front hall. The servants trembled with fear at the sight of the fully armed soldiers, while a piercing alarm sounded in the backyard. Then, a hidden door opened, and three clay golems, each about two meters tall, strode out.

"Intruder found!"

"Activate automatic defense measures!"

All the servants in the front hall were immediately captured, and those who dared to resist were mercilessly killed. After a short period of chaos, the situation was quickly brought under control. Meanwhile, in another direction of Sergant, Prince Asan's Purple Dragon Knights launched an attack and directly breached the enemy's hidden mansion.

"Why did the Great Godmother break into my mansion in the middle of the night?" Fitch-Silver Tongue's slightly flustered voice rang out.

He didn't approach the front hall, but instead appeared on the watchtower in the backyard, staff in hand. Looking at the church members surrounding his residence, he forced a composed expression and asked, "Is there some misunderstanding here?"

At this moment, the figure of the Mother of Great Bliss stepped out, her eyes filled with hatred, and she said through gritted teeth, "You secretly colluded with cultists to murder high-ranking members of the church."

"Why don't you surrender immediately?"

In the time it took to speak, Duncan had already led the Golden Guard to breach the second gate of the mansion. As a clay golem stepped out, several knights of the Golden Legion raised their shields to block, and the next second, spears thrust out, instantly riddling the golem with holes.

The knights of the Golden Company worked in perfect coordination and swiftly killed the golem guards inside the mansion.

"There are spirits of the dead!"

"It's the Bone Guardians!" came a low, startled shout.

On the other side of the corridor, Shadow Dancer Kevin's warning rang out: "There's a magical trap here! Be careful!"

Once the undead appear, there's not much more to say.

Following Duncan, the Order of the Hand of Coins began chanting prayers to disperse the undead creatures around them, while on the other side of the wall, cultists of pain attempted to break through but were immediately driven back by a hail of arrows.

The figure of the Great Bliss Mother swiftly approached Fitch Silver Tongue in front of her. After the Golden Order knights smashed open the backyard gate, she raised her hand and cast a spell.

—Dimensional Lock!

A large, green-glowing barrier sealed off the surrounding teleportation spells, while behind her, several priests from the Cult of Pleasure simultaneously cast spells, sending beams of green light striking Fitch Silvertongue and the mages he had hired.

——Dimensional Anchor!

The goddess of joy, Lira, possesses the domain of 'travel'. Any joy priest who isn't too incompetent can master one or two spells that restrict teleportation.

Fitch-Silver Tongue's only chance to escape is to teleport away without saying a word.

But that also meant that he had completely abandoned all his assets in Sergant.

With just a moment's hesitation, Fitch Silver Tongue had no chance of escaping.

"Owner!"

“The inner sect won’t be able to hold them off for long!” a servant dressed as an assassin appeared and said.

Duncan led his team on an incredibly fast offensive.

Even though he had secretly made arrangements when he built the mansion, designing the interior like a fortress, it still couldn't withstand the charge of a group of mid-to-high-ranking Gold Order knights. Especially the bodyguards, advisors, and assassins he had hired at great expense, upon seeing that it was the main force of the Church of God, they either threw down their weapons and surrendered without saying a word, or they simply broke through and fled.

It's not worth risking your life for that little bit of money.

Who knows what serious crime the employer committed?

Even the Godmother has come!
boom!
Duncan, clad in heavy armor, slammed into the enchanted door with brute force, smashing it down. The door itself wasn't damaged; only a section of the wall collapsed.

The design of magic locks and magic doors can only prevent thieves; if you forcefully break down the wall, there's nothing you can do.

Fitch-Silver Tongue's expression changed rapidly.

He gripped his staff tightly, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes, but then hesitated.

Hesitation will defeat.

He watched as a group of Golden Order knights, like wolves and tigers, rushed into the inner quarters. He sighed, silently put down his staff, and said in a deep voice, "Put down your weapons and surrender."

Done.

The elderly man in the fine clothes gestured to his servants to make way, and said to Duncan, who burst through the door, "Duncan - Lord Starfall!"

“I am the secret envoy of the Council of Red Robes Mages – the Necromancer School.”

"I request diplomatic immunity!"

This is self-destruction.

Fitch Silvertongue, seeing that Duncan's expression remained unchanged, quickly added, "I know where the Church of Pain and the Church of Plague are hiding! And I have detailed information about them!" Only then did the murderous intent in Duncan's eyes subside slightly: "Disarm them."

"Hand him over to the Great Godmother for safekeeping."

Fitch Silvertongue's decisive surrender was based on his own strengths. He ran a magical artifact trade between the Red Wizards and the Financial Council. As long as the Church didn't intend to completely break ties with the Red Wizards, at least his life was safe.

As long as his life is spared, everything else can be tolerated; at most, the head of the Necromancer's School will punish him.

However, the next time he sees Feige Silvertongue, he will most likely not be alive.

After capturing Fitch Silvertongue's mansion, Duncan and his group killed more than a dozen members of the Church of Pain. On the right side of the mansion, several figures broke through the encirclement, but as soon as they rushed out of the wall, they were ambushed by crossbowmen.

put!
A hail of arrows rained down, mixed with several enchanted arrows from the magic archer.

puff.

Blood splattered.

—Pain Master - Marathus (Six-star Silver Grey).

Lauvita's chief chosen one and also the chief judge of the Church of Pain.

He was a tall, thin, and slightly hunched middle-aged man whose skin was covered with glowing scars and holy marks (these were the "marks of pain" bestowed by Lauvita). After the divine power of prayer descended, a faint red light enveloped his scars. He wielded a long whip of thorns coated with strong acid and possessed the abilities of both a warrior and a priest.

Dangdang Dangdang!
Apart from the enchanted arrows from the magic archer, other crossbow bolts that struck him produced a sound similar to the clash of metal.

"It's armor skin."

"There might also be legendary abilities that reduce damage."

The scars on Marathus's body, the Lord of Pain, were shrouded in a faint glow of divine power as he reached out and grabbed the head of a dying cult member beside him.

next second.

Centered on his figure, within a radius of tens of meters, all the church members let out painful screams that sounded like they were on the verge of death.

—"Painful resonance!"

—"Extreme pain!"

The extreme pain of near-death is like an invisible chain that directly envelops everyone nearby. Except for a very few people who are immune by relying on their strong will, the others are almost powerless to resist, and some even convulse and faint on the spot.

Few members of the Pleasure Cult have experienced this near-death pain and fear.

The long whip swept through the air.

boom!
The human head exploded.

The temple warrior who stood in Marathos's way had his skull instantly shattered, his brains splattering with acid. As the thorny iron whip in his hand spun around and swept out again, the body of a priestess of pleasure exploded into a shower of flesh.

Poor thing, her smooth, white, and alluring flesh was rendered useless when faced with the life-or-death situation. All the pleasure was gone, leaving only rotten flesh and broken bones on the ground.

The members of the Church of Pain show no mercy to women and will never hesitate to kill.

Morale collapsed.

Such a horrific scene terrified the pleasure-seeking cultists who had long enjoyed themselves. If the Purple Dragon Knights hadn't arrived quickly to provide support, the enemy would probably have already broken through.

A dazzling beam of divine light descended.

The figure of the Great Mother of Bliss appeared, her body radiating divine light, as if the goddess of joy, Lira, had descended. Accompanied by a holy flame, the enemy's figure froze for a moment, his entire body burned by the 'joyful wrath,' and he was already somewhat unrecognizable.

The iron whip whistled past.

Marathus's blood-red pupils stared at the Great Mother of Bliss not far away. Suddenly, he abandoned his attempt to break through and gave up on the Purple Dragon Knights who were trying to stop him. His figure soared into the air, and his thorny whip transformed into a nine-tailed whip, which resembled a large net that covered the Great Mother of Bliss's dazzling figure.

The Mother of Great Bliss instantly turned pale!
She had never faced such a ferocious enemy before. If Marathos didn't flee now, she would never have another chance to escape.

The enemy was trying to trade one life for another, and forcibly killed the Mother of Great Bliss.

"waste!"

"The voters can't defeat those favored by God!"

Just as the Great Bliss Mother was terrified by the enemy's ferocity, Duncan's figure appeared out of thin air in an instant. He leaped over the wall several meters high, then burst forth, shattering the stones of the wall. His figure soared more than twenty meters through the air, his Joyful Leap Boots shimmering, as if he had appeared in a flash and rushed to the Great Bliss Mother's side.

"go!"

Duncan grabbed the Great Mother of Bliss before him, and while suspended in mid-air, he activated the Featherfall Technique. Immediately, his greatsword stirred up a whirlwind, and amidst the bursting sparks, it forcefully blocked the nine whip shadows that the enemy had somehow split off.

But a whip still grazed Duncan's cheek, instantly tearing flesh and blood as the barbs of the thorns scraped off a piece of skin.

If that were all thrown at a person, their skin and flesh would probably be ripped off while they were still alive.

—Peeling technique!

Marathus looked at Duncan with a hint of hatred in his eyes. He leaped onto the roof and, after praying for the power of the goddess of torment, pointed his finger. The moment Duncan's flesh seemed to ripple.

Blood seeped from beneath the armor.

Duncan's exposed arm armor resembled skin peeling off, revealing muscle tissue. This was a cruel spell that lasted for several rounds, causing unimaginable pain and psychological trauma to the target until the enemy's flesh was completely stripped away.

"Physical exemption successful!"

"You have successfully avoided the subsequent damage from the skinning technique."

The improvements made during this period have been effective.

Despite the extreme pain, Duncan's hands did not tremble in the slightest. He severed a section of the enemy's Nine-Tailed Whip with his greatsword, abruptly released the Great Mother of Bliss, and the stone slab shattered the moment he landed. He was like a wildly dancing whirlwind, leaping upwards with his sword in both hands, aiming straight for Marathos's head.

—To treat fatal wounds.

At this moment, the Great Mother of Bliss finally seemed to realize what was happening and hurriedly chanted a prayer and cast a divine spell. She knelt on one knee and prayed for the divine grace of the goddess of joy, Lira. But after the goddess responded, the figure of Duncan, who was levitating, underwent an astonishing change in the next second.

—The face of a higher god!
A pair of pure white wings of light appeared out of thin air behind Duncan. His wounds healed rapidly, and he was enveloped in the radiance of divine power. His strength, agility, physique, and other attributes increased significantly, and the greatsword he held also burned with brilliant flames.

The goddess of joy, Lillia, bestowed her divine grace and power directly upon Duncan, completely abandoning the Mother of Bliss standing nearby.

This scene left Marathos on the opposite side completely astonished.

At this moment, he even began to doubt who was the chosen one of the goddess of joy, Lillah. The divine radiance emanating from the Great Mother of Bliss gradually dimmed, and the power of divine grace continued to surge toward Duncan.

"My lord!"

"Grant me divine power!" Marathus, the Lord of Pain, knelt and begged for divine power.

As his prayers began, his entire body was covered in keratinous skin resembling that of a purgatory creature, a pair of enormous leathery wings emerged, his hands transformed into the claws of a half-purgatory creature, and he resembled a demonic offspring with dark red skin.

One after another, figures rapidly approached the battlefield.

With the arrival of two of the five shrewish women of the Church of Wealth, Upper Gindella Isgil and Sarala Tebrantan, the priesthood of the Hand of Coins completed its encirclement of the street.

A further direction.

A chosen one marked 'Pain Eater - Gray' glanced in this direction, his expression seemingly struggling for a moment, before finally turning and fleeing into the wilderness without looking back.

The operation was a complete failure.

The enemy seems to have known the future, having found all their hidden strongholds. It's highly likely that the Lord of Pain, Marathos, is now trapped.

—Immune to higher spells.

Unlike the panic of the Great Mother of Bliss, the first thing Upper Gindera Isgil did after appearing was to grant Duncan the effect of 'spell immunity'.

The beautiful and tall Upper Gold Bishop, dressed in expensive mithril armor and wielding a warhammer and shield, was a sight to behold.

This is a truly top-tier priest who can fight head-on!

Battle Nun.

There is no such thing as a one-on-one duel.

Sarala-Taybrantan narrowed her ruby-like eyes slightly, and in the instant she raised her hand, a high-ranking magic archer on one side of the street had already aimed at the enemy in front of her, while on the other side, several veteran silver daggers, known as the Old Silver Daggers Wanderers, coated their crossbow bolts with the deadly poison of the flying dragon.

The priests of the Church of Wealth simultaneously began chanting and casting spells, unleashing a magical bombardment upon Marathus before them.

………………

(End of this chapter)